Unhappy 10th Anniversary, Great Recession. You Still Hurt Us

The Great Recession began exactly one decade ago this month. Although the economy has been growing steadily for years, the downturn's impact is still deeply felt by millions who lost homes and jobs.

by Marilyn GeewaxDec 14, 20173 minutes

Job seekers line up to enter a career fair in Los Angeles, on Dec. 1, 2010. At the peak of the recession, the unemployment rate hit 10 percent. It's now 4.1 percent.Source: Kevork Djansezian

Ten years ago this month, you may not have noticed the cracking and crumbling under you.

At the time, you may have had a job, a home and rising retirement savings. Sure, the housing market was hurting a lot, but stock prices were still holding up and Federal Reserve policymakers were offering reasons for calm, saying they expected strong consumer spending.

But the Fed was wrong: In December 2007, an economic earthquake already was convulsing the country. It marked the beginning of the Great Recession, which lasted